


The Intersects Versus Plan B(ryce)

by CelticGHardy



Category: Chuck (TV), Doctor Who, White Collar
Genre: Community: crossbigbang, F/M, Gen, Multi, Other, Sequel, The relationships aren't the main part of the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 20:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticGHardy/pseuds/CelticGHardy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/775006/chapters/1457498">Chuck Versus the Intersected Doppelganger.</a> Neal and Bryce both get another message from the woman claiming to be their mother. Bryce gets it a little late, coming home from a mission, but does go out to New York with Chuck and Sarah, where it's planned. Neal goes first and meets River Song and the Doctor, their parents. When Bryce does arrive, he starts attacking the Doctor.</p><p>Figuring out what happened, The Doctor joins up with Team Bartowski and Neal and Peter, to get Bryce back and to stop Madame Kovarian once and for all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Done for the [crossovers bigbang](http://crossbigbang.livejournal.com) on Livejournal.
> 
> I came up with a pretty good title. Oh, and I don't own anything recognizable. My warning for graphic violence may be overdone.
> 
> [ART Post](http://crescentfanfic.livejournal.com/33883.html)

The last case he had been tasked to fill out was done and he placed it in the out box on his desk. It was three fifty-four. If there was no more work, he was going to go home early. June was planning a party and Moz was going to be commenting on some of the items that were going to be prepared. Peter came over to his desk, saw the filled out box and took the files out, before setting down four more.

“Peter,” he complained, looking at the new pile, “I was planning on joining June soon.”

His face was non-surprise surprise. “Oh?”

“She had El over, they were going to start choosing foods.”

“Oh yeah,” he muttered, staring up at the ceiling. Neal knew Peter remembered and he was planning on turning him down. “Sorry, no can do. This paperwork needs to be done.”

“Peter,” he subtly pleaded.

He rolled his eyes and consented, “If you can get the paperwork done before four, I'll let you leave.”

Neal figured it was a false hope, but he really wanted to join June and El when they were testing the hors d'oeuvres. He pulled the first file out and began reading. He had the four done within five minutes to four and went up to place on Peter's desk himself. “Done. If I leave now, I can catch them while they're going through desserts,” he said, already walking out the door.

“Not yet,” Peter called back. He mutely sighed before turning back around. “Last week, someone came forward with a supposed Van Gogh original. But it doesn't match any of his known works.” He passed the picture over to him.

Neal looked at the painting, a strange blue item exploding and fragments going everywhere. “You know I actually can't tell from the picture if it's a Van Gogh,” he chided, pronouncing the name _Van Goff_ , “But there were rumors of an unknown painting that drove him to insanity. Most just name it the Exploding Box. It hasn't been seen since his death.”

“Do you think it could be his?”

He stared for a minute. “It's possible. The reason it might not have been seen is because the family didn't want anyone to know about it,” he calculated.

“I'm going to call the Blaiddrwg Gallery. They're the ones dealing with the painting,” he said, picking up the phone, “We can take a closer look next week.”

Neal accused, “They wanted a consultant that could verify it.”

Peter shrugged. “Your name may have come up from someone at the gallery.”

Neal stood a few seconds before he asked, “Can I leave?”

“Yeah, go,” he waved off, waiting for someone to pick up on the other side.

The walk back to June's was quiet. He walked in to see El cleaning up the remaining dessert. “I didn't get here in time,” he complained.

She turned around and chuckled softly at the exaggerated long look on his face. “We saved you some of the best picks,” she told him, handing him a plate.

“Thank you,” he grinned, nibbling at one of the crackers. “Was Moz here?”

June walked back out from the dining room. “He left right around the beginning of the entree sampling. Muttered something about checking his sound equipment,” she chipped in, “We were having baked ocean fish with cheddar.”

He laughed, “Oh, that would have been great.” Finishing off his bites, he walked up to the apartment, ready for a night of painting. Instead, he stopped when he opened his door. Directly in his line of vision was an envelope. He stepped once, getting a tiny bit closer to see similar circles that were on the bottom of the letter Bryce now had.

_They didn't mention anyone coming in, dropping anything off or coming up near the area. So who delivered this?_ He carefully walked around it to get to rubber gloves that he had near the sink. Slipping them on, he lifted the envelope and tapped it against the table. Nothing came out, so he lifted it open and pulled out a paper printed to look like an invitation.

_Where: Prospect Park_  
When: 5:02 PM, April 23, 2011  
Until then, Sweetie. 

Neal looked at the circles again. _She wants to meet us._ Unsure of what the plan should be, he found the secondary phone Chuck had sent out for unofficial communication.

**0=0**

Bryce was waiting three hundred feet outside of a gun runner's compound. Chuck was inside, hopefully working on a computer that would tell them Volokoff's schedule. Sarah was distracting the owner of the building, acting as a possible buyer, hidden camera picking up everything and relaying it over to Morgan in the van.

Casey was busying himself, cleaning the sniper rifle that he had pack in case. It was the third time he had disassembled it and put it back together. “Do you trust yourself, Casey?” he questioned, watching the man go over the barrel again. “Or do you think your hands have developed minds of their own?”

“If they had, you would have been choked to death a few times,” he grunted, sliding the firing pin harder than necessary.

“Huh.” Scanning the compound again, he saw their target walking out with Sarah on his arm. Checking, he made sure she wasn't gesturing for a retrieval or intervention. “Walker's outside; no sign of Bartowski,” he reported.

“He's got ten minutes before Walker has to leave to avoid suspicion.” Casey rebuilt the gun one final time before setting it on the blanket laid out. The two watched for the other agents to exit the building. Just a minute under their cutoff time, Sarah walked out while Chuck sneaked out of a side door and hurried to the meet up point. “Anyone following them?”

Bryce watched for any shadows. “None. It looks like they got away clean.”

“Let's watch for a few more minutes. The men could be waiting to follow.” They waited until Sarah got them over the comms reporting a safe return. The two packed up and came down from their perch. Chuck was breaking into the data he gathered and Sarah was waiting for transport. 

Nothing eventful happened, and they were back in Burbank faster than usual. Bryce headed to the apartment the CIA rented for him. He barely paid attention to anything in the room, bypassing the envelope on the table to fall on his bed.

_Wait, envelope on the table?_

He got back up and moved over to said table. He noticed the circles, subtle differences from the letter but characteristics close. He found two latex gloves to open and hold the invitation. The park was also followed by New York City. “That's today,” he muttered, checking the time, “Noon. Missed that window.”

Extra sleep now driven from his mind, Bryce picked up his cell and selected Sarah's from the book. “Bryce,” she answered.

“I've received another letter from the person.”

“When?”

“Unsure, it was already here when I got back. It's an invitation. Time and date are for today; Prospect Park in New York.”

“All right, Chuck's at work. Bring it in; we'll analyze it and figure out whether or not it's needed to tell Beckman.”

“Got it, expect me in thirty.” He hung up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A sleep deprived headache was starting to form. Even if his room had been compromised, he should have had an unopened bottle of ibuprofen stashed somewhere. Except there wasn't one. He hadn't had time to stock back up between missions. He checked the opened one and found it empty. Bryce had to hope for some at Castle.

The bright sunlight aggravated his headache and he was feeling nauseous when he got to the BuyMore. He smiled at Chuck, and a tiny bit of pain still showed through enough to worry him. Sarah met him at the entrance. “What's wrong?” she questioned.

“Headache,” he muttered, covering his eyes.

“Give me the invitation,” she dictated, holding out her hand. He gave it to her and she handed it off to Casey before pushing him down to the medical room. She took out a bottle and knocked out two pills before handing them to him.

“Thanks.” He grabbed a cup and filled it up so he wouldn't have to dry swallow.

“Did you call Neal?” she asked.

He shook his head, “I planned on it on the way over, but the headache stopped me from considering it.”

“We should see if he also got one,” she said, directing him to one of the beds, “Lie down.”

“Why are you being so nice?” he questioned, wary about her intentions.

“It's practical. We'll go over the invitation and if we need any more information, you're here.” Bryce wondered if the very, very faint trace of worry and concern was former-partner related or something Chuck brought out in her. He usually got the guess right, ninety percent of the time.

He got about an hour of sleep before Chuck tried to enter silently into the room. “What did they find out?” Bryce asked, awaken by the door.

“Neal got one as well. He called us and we caught him just before he was going to go. Sarah was able to convince him to take Peter.”

He nodded, “Good.”

“He'll tell us when he gets back. We're going to meet him in New York; hopefully he can keep them there. Beckman's sent orders. Casey's staying here and we're going to go meet with Neal.”

“How long until we leave?”

“Three hours, commercial.”

Bryce forced himself up. “If Neal calls, tell me. I need to go back to my apartment,” he said.

Chuck nodded, “Yeah.” He sidestepped to let him out. Bryce thought Chuck might have something he wanted to say, but he didn't get it out. He could tell him later.

**0=0**

Prospect Park was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday in late April. Neal was sitting on one of the benches. Peter was right beside him. He was discretely checking the time on his phone while Peter watched the people that did walk by them. “Why the time?” Peter asked.

He shook his head. “I don't know. Special meaning to them and possibly us.”

“Yeah, but five oh two PM? Why that specific? Five would have been sufficient.”

“Again, Peter, meaning. I don't remember anything significant at that time, but it could have been the exact time of birth for one of us. It could also just be something meaningful to them and they'll explain it.” He almost got annoyed at Peter keeping an eye on his phone. “Peter, you're suspicious.”

The man put his phone away and started tapping a beat, four strikes before repeating. Neal couldn't pick up on the reason why he was annoyed and disturbed by the rhythm. Instead, something else decided to interrupt his thoughts. A strange sound, like metal grinding on metal, reverberated through the park. Both stood up to find out what was making the noise. Eventually, Peter saw a large blue box appear next to the pathway. They watched it fluctuate in and out before settling and becoming solid. Something opened and a woman exited first, looking around before seeing Neal and smiling warmly.

“Hello, Sweetie.”

There was no pause for Neal to come to the right conclusion. He didn't know how to start the conversation, which normally came to him. Instead, he ended up with something simple. “Hi,” he said when she stopped in front of him.

“Oh, come here,” she demanded, pulling him into a tight hug that he gladly reciprocated. After a minute, they separated. “Oh, now there's supposed to be someone else here. Unless your brother's hiding, I don't see him.”

“He got back home too late to get here on time,” Neal explained, “He'll be here in a few hours instead.”

“Ha! We get on time and they're the ones that are late,” the man she came with exclaimed. Peter thought he could be related to Mozzie; the bowtie and tweed would fit with the odd man's fashion sense. He noticed Peter and introduced himself, “Hello, I'm the Doctor.”

That codeword triggered the Intersect. The flash would have contained something, but the Intersect had been connected when the Bad Wolf virus had gone through and destroyed any trace of the Doctor. So, there were fragmented files along with new, complete files that had been added after the event, which he tried to process but ended up with a large migraine instead. He would have collapsed, if Peter hadn't seen the signs and caught him before he fell. “What's wrong?” she asked, carefully checking him over.

The Doctor, which Peter believed was not a medical title, pulled out a strange device and passed it over Neal. It emitted a high pitched noise before he stopped it and looked at something on the side. “Well, I'd say the computer in his head tried to pull up a mixture of corrupted files and complete ones and the complete ones wouldn't process,” he stated, “That may slightly be my fault.”

Peter glanced sharply at the man. River looked back at him. “Your fault?” she questioned.

“Well, there was this virus I release to wipe out traces of me, and it looks like it got into the computer program in his head,” he explained.

“Why would you have files that would be in the program?” Peter asked.

He tried to dismiss himself, “Nothing much, just wandering into situations at the right time and place, or everyone else would say wrong time and place.”

That didn't exactly alleviate his apprehension of the man, but getting Neal someplace so he could sleep off the migraine was more concerning, Ibuprofen also on the list. “Neal, can you walk?” he inquired.

His answer was pain-filled, but sarcastic. “Don't know,” he mumbled, “Can I? You won't allow me to stand up.”

He rolled his eyes at the comment, but moved slightly to help him up. Between the two of them, Neal managed to keep standing, wobbling a little. “My car's parked just outside of the park,” Peter commented, feeling the sun come out. Neal winced at the increased brightness. He reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and found a pair of designer sunglasses, placing them carefully on.

“Why don't we take the TARDIS instead? Would be there in a snap,” the Doctor suggested, snapping his fingers for emphasis. The doors opened in response.

She snapped her fingers and closed them again. “With your luck, we would end up five years before the invention of aspirin, and on the wrong planet,” she countered.

“Sexy wouldn't do that,” he defended.

“Sexy?” Neal inquired.

“Sexy!” he pointed back at the blue box.

“Let's keep to the car,” Peter said, “We'll head to June's. You have pills there?”

“Yeah, just got a new bottle,” he confirmed. 

The small group walked outside of the park, after the Doctor ran back to lock the TARDIS. Peter immediately took the driver's side, the Doctor stealing the passenger while Neal sat in the back with the woman. “I never introduced myself,” she apologized, “River Song.”

That name kicked up another file in the Intersect. It mentioned her involvement with a crisis during the planning of the moon mission, the missing tapes of Nixon, possible connections to Torchwood and several other things that he couldn't pick up quickly because the flash was making the migraine worse. “Oww,” he moaned, leaning forward and pressing his head against the back of the seat, “Okay, he cannot introduce himself around Chuck and Bryce. And we need to warn them before you say your name.”

“Another one?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Sorry, Sweetie, there may be a few more files on our family,” she warned, carefully rubbing his back, “We shouldn't mention them until the headache goes away.”

**0=0**

Chuck was watching Bryce, crossing between worry and apprehension every few seconds. Sarah was studying him, but wouldn't bring anything up until they could be someplace private. Bryce was acting as if Chuck wasn't watching him, semiconscious but the constant watching not allowing him to settle completely.

Sarah made the move, sitting next to him and grabbing his phone. She typed in a question mark to the text field. He cleared the mark for his response.

_Had headache. What u give him?_

Aspirin. Only thing in Castle. Why?

_Allergic to aspirin. Major reaction @ in HS._

Sure?

_Reminded me only had aspirin when he was sick in college._

Given aspirin before. Impostor?

_When?_

Back during partner days

_For that long? Flcrm or Rng, wouldn't make sense._

The two stopped as Bryce finally settled for a nap. “Volkoff?” she whispered.

“I don't think so. It doesn't make sense either. Bryce wasn't on anyone's radar for years,” he mentioned, “Not to mention, if their plan was to keep Fulcrum and the Ring going, they failed.” He sat back, staring up at the top of the cabin. “Something isn't right.”


	2. Chapter Two

June answered the door before they were able to dig out Neal's key. “Samantha saw you pull up,” she explained. She saw the two that followed them in. “Hello,” she greeted.

“Hello,” River returned, “River Song, and this is the Doctor.” She motioned to the man that was investigating one of her vases. He waved without taking his eyes off the vase.

“June,” she introduced.

“Please, tell me a few stories about Neal. I haven't seen him in ages.” The two women walked toward the back of the house while the three men went upstairs to Neal's apartment. First thing Peter did was sit Neal on the couch before going for the ibuprofen. The Doctor examined things around the apartment while Neal shrugged off his jacket and placed the glasses on the table.

“Excellent reproductions,” he commented, looking at the paintings, “I can barely tell the difference, but I was at the painting of this one,” he pointed out Van Gogh's almond tree he had just started on, “And he did not like it when I started picking the flowers. He also took them away from me and gave it to Amy.”

Neal didn't believe him at all, so he focused on the person he mentioned. “Amy?” he asked.

“Amy Pond, your uh,” he stopped, trying to figure out how to explain it, “She's a close friend. Her and her husband Rory.” He looked at the others that were drying. “A lot of Van Gogh's.”

“Yeah, he's been stuck on my mind since I heard about someone having an unknown painting and they want me to authenticate,” he explained.

“What painting?”

“The Exploding Box,” he revealed. The Doctor stared at him at that comment, but Peter walked back in with an unopened bottle. A glass of water was handed to him before two pills were knocked out. “Thanks.” He took them quickly and slowly drained the glass.

The three of them kept to relative silence before Peter started asking the questions that had popped up. “Why are there files on you?” he inquired.

“I uh, well, I get involved in certain events that are classified for 'national security' reasons,” he mocked.

Neal stopped Peter before he could ask about 'national security'. Just because they had the Intersect didn't mean they had a very good security clearance. “Why the time?” he asked.

“Oh, it's an important time. Got married yesterday to River at that exact minute,” he explained, “There's probably a better way to put that.”

“Oh, it'll be part of the explanation that we have to give the both of them,” River mentioned, walking into the apartment. “But, while we're waiting for Bryce, so we don't have to explain twice, what about this computer program inside Neal's head?”

“We can't,” Peter denied.

“We really can't. National security and treason,” Neal added.

“We deserve to know what database has our files,” The Doctor argued.

“Then go through the proper channels,” he countered.

The Doctor looked over at River. “I see where he gets that from,” he commented.

“Oh, don't you start,” she snapped back, “They get a lot of their tendencies from you as well.”

“Like what?” Peter asked.

“Stealing things,” she mentioned.

“Oi! You've done it as well.”

“Great, felonies run in the family,” he lamented. River and Neal started laughing.

**0=0**

Bryce felt better when he stepped off the plane and walked into the terminal. The three of them only had carry ons, and didn't waste any time getting to the rental car area. Sarah took behind the wheel of the specialty car the CIA had ready.

“Bryce?” Neal answered.

“Hey,” he greeted into his phone, “We're in New York. About half-hour away from June's.”

“Great, we've decided on going out; the apartment's too small. There's this Chinese place that makes great dumplings; we trust the owner and we're going to go there.”

“Sounds great,” he told him, covering to tell the two others, “Chinese? Neal trusts the place.”

“There's no sizzling shrimp, but I'm okay with that,” Chuck said.

“If Neal trusts it, so do I,” Sarah sided. “Do we meet him there?”

“Let's go to June's first.”

The ride went faster when the traffic got a little lighter. They pulled up to the mansion just as Neal decided to walk out and greet them. “Hey,” he smiled.

“Neal,” Bryce greeted. Sarah shook his hand and Chuck threw an arm around his shoulders.

“Why don't we head upstairs?” he motioned, using his left, Governor eclipsed arm to wave them in. “Just watch it when they introduce themselves.”

“You flashed?” Chuck muttered near his ear.

“Yeah, she's not bad, but his was made up of corrupted files along with complete ones,” he explained, “And I flashed on him first.”

“Ouch,” he winced in sympathy. Neal was the first to walk into his apartment. Chuck caught the woman and the man talking to Peter over something about a stolen ship. Sarah slipped over to the side, carefully watching the two.

The second Bryce caught sight of the man, his personality disappeared. Memories were wiped out and the true purpose of the body surged forward. Bryce Larkin no longer existed in that body anymore. The only thing that it remembered was to kill the Doctor.

The gun was immediately grabbed out of its hand, but there were two throwing knives attached to its ankles.

“Sarah, what's going on?” Chuck asked as she started fighting back against him. Matched due to their hours of sparring with each other, they kept each other at full attention. She couldn't answer.

“Doctor, do you think this is...” she began.

“Yes,” he answered.

“This is what?” Peter questioned.

“Is there any way to knock him out?” Neal asked Chuck.

He almost said no, but then he thought about one thing that might work. Instead of telling Sarah of what he was going to do, he grabbed the weapon from behind, locking his arms against the body and then tumbling to the floor, using his legs to trap it. Sarah figured what he was doing, and pinched a specific part of the neck. After a few seconds, it fell unconscious.

“What is going on?” Neal asked, “Bryce doesn't attack random people.”

“This isn't random,” River told him. Then, she turned to the Doctor, who was scanning while Sarah tied its wrists and legs. “Is it....”

“It's Flesh,” he reported.

“What's Flesh?” Sarah questioned.

She looked at Sarah before turning her attention to Chuck. “River Song,” she stated.

The Intersect kicked up the same files Neal previously viewed. When it stopped, Chuck reviewed them, not missing anything. “Whoa,” he gasped, “Aliens are real.” He grinned, lost in the moment. “Morgan is going to freak when he finds out about this.” Then, he looked over to the man. “He's the Doctor, isn't he?” That brought up the second set of files.

“Shit,” Neal muttered, helping Sarah get him into a chair. “His files are corrupted. That's why I warned you.”

“We'll talk to Orion,” Sarah noted.

Chuck inquired, “Does anyone have aspirin?”

“Ibuprofen,” Peter waved, the bottle still in his hand.

“Not allergic,” he confirmed. A glass of water was passed along with two pills. “Thanks.”

Peter turned to the other two people. “Can we get an explanation on what the Flesh is?” he pointed back out.

“Biological material that can take on the form of humans and other species,” River simplified, “It has to be directed to do so. Someone must be controlling it.”

“Both of you have experience with this,” Sarah accused.

Neal looked over to the two of them. “Who was it last time?” he inquired.

“The Church, while they were working with someone named Madame Kovorkian,” she informed, “They've tried this before. Killing him. It didn't work; he figured out a plan. A way to fool people into thinking it worked.”

“They've used this before?” Chuck brought up.

“Using a Ganger to kill him, no. They used one to replace someone; she was pregnant. They took the child and turned her into a weapon to assassinate him.”

Neal was watching carefully the time they were talking. The Doctor was looking over at River, sorrow in his eyes as she described the events. “It was you,” he claimed.

“I was the child,” she corrected, “The woman is my mother.”

The information shocked everyone. The only interruption was the slight movement of the Ganger. Sarah immediately checked to make sure it wasn't waking up. After they realized it was starting to wake back up, Chuck asked, “What are we going to do?”

The Doctor got up and started pacing, rapidly thinking about plans. After three minutes, he stopped. “You're staying here,” he insisted, pointing at the agents and Neal, then turned to River, “We should check the station where they held Amy.”

“We're going with you,” Sarah argued, “Bryce is our responsibility.”

“No! No, you need to stay here,” he countered, “Besides, you won't be able to deal with the things that we'll have to do.”

“We've dealt with people like her before,” Chuck voiced, “Or, well, people that act like her. We've taken out terrorist groups and bad people. We've stopped assassinations and big plots. We can help you.”

“No! I refuse!”

“Doctor!” River yelled, getting his attention, “They're his friends. They're trained for this; they can help.”

He was torn. He did not want anyone new around when he went on the warpath. But, he needed help. River alone would not be enough to go and get Bryce. While he was thinking, the Ganger was regaining consciousness faster than a normal human would. It started moving toward a forgotten knife. 

Chuck looked down at the right time and picked it up. “We need to figure it out soon,” Chuck brought up, “If they're monitoring this Ganger, then they would have known he's been in contact with you and they would know you're not dead. And he's getting more aggressive. That trick probably won't work again.”

“We have to act soon,” Sarah continued, “Run an extraction on Bryce and get him someplace safe.”

“The TARDIS is the safest place we can keep the two of them,” River added, then turned to the Doctor, “They can help us. There are things you will not do that they can. To protect Bryce, to protect Neal. Allow them to help us.”

“We have someone else that can help out as well,” Chuck mentioned, “We would need to pick him up.”

“Amy and Rory would also be helpful,” she suggested, “And they would not like to miss out on meeting them.”

“All right, fine,” he decided, “But there will be rules and limitations. We don't just kill everything on site. Unless it's the Silence.” He hurried out the door. “Stay here, I'll bring Sexy around.”

Chuck looked over to River. “Bring Sexy around?”

“The TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” she smiled.

He turned to Sarah and grinned wildly. “How is this possible? Aliens, a time machine, wait, a time and space machine.” Then he remembered the Ganger at their feet and became sad. “Kinda sucks we have to learn about it this way.”

She rubbed his arm, keeping her worry down. “We'll get him back, Chuck. We've done it before,” she said, “I'm going to call Casey and warn him we're arriving soon. So he won't shoot anyone.”

River nodded, “Excellent idea.” Sarah moved toward the bathroom so she could have a bit of privacy. “Who else are you planning on inviting?”

“Inviting?”

“I'm guessing that there's going to be more people that you'll think of that can help, and you're planning on talking to them when we get there.” Chuck nodded in agreement. “So, who?”

“Mom and Dad,” he admitted, “Dad could get through computer systems at about the same rate as me and Mom would be in the same position that Sarah is.”

“Someone on each team,” she concluded, “Clever.”

“Where is the Doctor going to park the TARDIS?” Neal inquired.

“Possibly just outside on the terrace,” she mentioned, then added when he started worry, “The TARDIS won't land on anything.”

“You're sure?”

“I've never really known her to land on anything but firm ground. But he is piloting,” she pondered. Peter and Neal didn't look reassured at the last sentence. Sarah came back into the room just as sounds reverberated outside.

Chuck was the first to see the TARDIS appear in view. He grinned madly and waited for it to fully appear before walking over. “This. Is. Awesome.”

The doors opened and The Doctor poked his head out. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he demanded, “Inside. And make sure the Ganger can't do anything.”

**0=0**

Casey had no idea what to make of the call Sarah had just placed. _What the hell does she mean an extraction? And why the hell would she need Orion and Frost?_ Annoyed, he started cleaning his service weapon to calm down, after sending a text to Orion, asking him and his wife to meet in Castle.

He just has the barrel wiped clean and was about to start on some of the smaller pieces when the strange sound of metal grinding on metal sounding through the halls. “What the hell?”

**0=0**

Sarah had walked in first, planning on securing the room. And then walked back out in confusion. Chuck had just immediately walked in and stared in wonder over everything in sight. Neal followed behind, looking around at the same things before walking over to the console. There was a small nagging in the back of his mind and when he passed his hand over a switch, it exploded and told him what the switch did.

River was behind him when he jumped at the mental intrusion. “It's okay. The TARDIS is just helping out. You haven't quite been around telepaths to understand,” she explained.

Peter hadn't gone in yet when his cell phone went off. “Burke,” he answered.

“This is the Marshals office. Caffrey's anklet is malfunctioning; we believe he's tampering with it,” a male voice accused on the other side.

He looked over to Neal and saw the anklet was blinking red. “I'm with Caffrey. He's doing nothing to it. It's getting interference from a nearby device,” he reported.

“Could you please identify and remove whatever is causing the interference?”

“I'll try,” he lied. Ending the call, he then walked in. “The, uh, TARDIS is interfering with Neal's anklet.”

The Doctor looked over at Neal, pulling out a gold and silver tube with a green light and aiming it at the device. After a few loud noise disruptions at it, it turned back to green. Peter didn't know what he did to it, but if the Marshals thought it was back online, then he was okay. “That is going to be problematic,” he pointed out, “It would probably be safer if the item was removed for the time being.”

“Not exactly my thought,” he muttered, but ignored his greater instincts. “Neal.” He unhooked the key and waited for him to find a place to raise his leg so he could remove the device. “Don't run off.”

“Not planning on it, Peter,” he confirmed, “Besides, Sarah'll catch me. If Casey didn't, or if Chuck didn't notice and talk me out of it.”

He looked over at River and the Doctor. “No encouraging words?”

“Oh, we would get him back to you,” she started.

“After we went to Barcelona,” he broke in.

“And met Van Gogh,” she added.

“Ooo, Space Disney,” he mentioned.

Peter stared at the two of them while they went through destinations. Sarah nudged him in the back and he helped her get the Ganger secured to a pillar. The Doctor and River worked on the console and waited for the door to close.

“Where do you want us to land?” River inquired. 

Sarah moved over to give her the coordinates of Castle. The Doctor pulled out a strange alignment of wires and nodes and moved over to the Ganger. It glared at him and tried to bite him when he started placing the ends at the temples and other places along the body. “Uh,” Chuck voiced, “Huh?”

“In order for them to be controlling him, sending a template to keep it in Bryce shape, there has to be a signal,” he explained, “And these will help track him quicker. Last time, I didn't think about tracking her, I just destroyed the flesh that had taken her place. It took a while to get to her.”

The sorrow and regret that showed through his voice caused Chuck to become silent and sad. So he didn't bother him more while he put the rest on and walked back to the console. Sarah noticed his emotional state and stood next to him, trying to pass on peace to him. “We'll get him back, Chuck,” she whispered.

The Doctor became a bit more excitable when the machine he hooked up started scanning for the signal to follow it. “Now, before we pick up your friend, quick thing, what's the computer program inside yours and Neal's head?”

Chuck and Neal just stared at the back of his.


	3. Chapter Three

Casey found the source of the strange noise in one of the unused rooms toward the back. He had a backup in his hand as he moved carefully toward the room. When a large blue box appeared into view, he grunted in displeasure. The news, gossip and rumors on this thing and the 'man' that accompanies it were bad for security. He was going to shoot and arrest this guy, in that order. He heard a door open on the thing and barely registered the side opening in. He raised his gun and ordered, “Hands first.”

“Casey,” Chuck nagged, stepping out, “Sarah told you were coming back. Did you tell him how?”

She walked out after him. “I told him before the Doctor got back,” she defended, walking down towards weapons.

“What the hell's going on, Bartowski?” he grumbled.

“Bryce isn't Bryce. The Doctor called his clone a Ganger,” he explained, “We're going on an extraction mission to get him back. Are Mom and Dad here yet?”

“Frost's too deep in her assignment. Orion's finishing a couple of programs before getting here. He has a thirty minute ETA,” he informed.

“Good, okay, we'll fill him in while stocking TARDIS.”

“Stocking the what?” Chuck pointed behind him. Neal and Peter walked out just after his gesture. “Where did you two come from?”

Peter shook his head and waved toward the box. “Just look inside,” he suggested. The two of them walked after Chuck, leaving him standing alone. After a few minutes, he moved over to the doors and looked inside.

“Oh, Chuck me.”

**0=0**

Chuck walked down to the tech and others room. “Okay, there are bulletproof vests and dart guns here. Sarah could give you a few other guns if you don't want these,” he described.

“I'll stick with mine,” he said.

“She can also give you extra clips if you need them.” Peter agreed on that and took a vest to place underneath before going to find her. Neal found the clothes area and, after swiping a vest, changed into a looser shirt and pants so he could fight if necessary. He went back to Chuck, who was checking darts and clips. He took the second gun that was prepared and a few clips, hiding them around before settling down.

“What else might we need?” he prompted.

“Uh,” Chuck paused, going through a mental checklist, “Spare clothes. Food. Spare gun?” He turned to Neal. “I'm not exactly sure. Usually, when we go to get someone out, they've been.... hurt. But they would have had to keep Bryce healthy so they could continue to keep transmitting to the Ganger.”

“Yeah,” Neal nodded, looking at a few of the other items lining the walls.

“That and the Doctor probably has a ton of stuff on his ship. I barely got a few feet in, but I saw a lot of rooms.” Neal quirked a little smile at his excitement. Between the two of them, they figured on a couple of small hackers for digital locks and extra picks. Several comm units were picked through. Two netbooks and hard drive copiers and they figured they were set, placing everything on themselves.

The two of them headed back to the room with the TARDIS. Casey was carrying large weapons and a bag of items that clinked when he walked. Sarah came up with her own gun and another bag that also clinked. Peter was waiting inside, checking his gun and making sure the vest was secure. The Doctor and River had disappeared deep inside, according to Casey, who briefly talked to them when he first walked in. The Ganger was ignored; it had done nothing except breathe.

“What did you two grab?” Sarah questioned.

“Picks, hackers, netbooks and copiers,” he rattled off.

The Doctor and River came back up just as soon as Casey came back in with one last item. “Ready?” she asked.

Sarah turned to Casey. “We're still waiting for Orion,” he mentioned. They waited a few more minutes, until Castle alerted that a recognized person came in.

“I'll go meet with Dad,” Chuck suggested, moving out of the TARDIS. A couple of minutes went by before both walked in. Orion stopped, and walked back out before coming back in and closing the doors.

“We're good,” she confirmed.

“Then let's get going,” the Doctor insisted, going to the console and starting up the sequence to leave. Casey looked around as the TARDIS took off.

“What should be our first stop?” Peter posed.

“Well, the trace isn't done yet,” he said, confirming the status, “So, we go to the place where they held Amy, see if anyone's there, and check their computers for other places.”

Sexy decided that there had to be one more stop before they could hunt for Bryce. “What? What are you doing?” he questioned, “Where are you going?”

River checked the destination. “I think she wants us to pick up two more people,” she indicated. He looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened.

“All right, don't shoot the people I'm about to bring on,” he rushed, flying out the door. The group just took turns looking at each other for five minutes. They all looked back when two new people walked in.

“Oh, hello,” the man greeted, English accent present in his voice.

“River,” she called, Scottish accent ringing out, “What's going on?”

“Everyone, this is Amy and Rory Williams,” she introduced, “Two of the Doctor's former companions.”

Neal turned to River. “Is she....” he motioned. She nodded. The ones that knew the story became uncomfortably quiet. Sarah whispered parts into Casey's ear when his expression turned dark, so he wouldn't be angry at being uninformed. There was still anger, just not at them. Orion continued to be confused until Chuck passed him his phone, which had the story.

“Okay, awkwardness all around,” Amy broke in, trying to change the atmosphere.

“They know about us,” River divulged.

“Oh,” Rory voiced. Then they became uncomfortable. The Doctor, ignoring it all, rushed back up to the console and checking the results of his trace. “What exactly is going on?” 

Amy had moved up to follow and caught sight of the Ganger. “Why is he tied up?” she asked.

“Ganger,” Chuck mentioned, “He tried attacking the Doctor.”

“Not good,” Rory muttered.

“I don't get it,” Amy commented, “We stopped them before. Their plans blew up in their faces and I ki-” She looked around at the others, unsure about finishing.

“Killed Madame Kovarian,” River finished.

“During the distorted timeline, so that may not have worked,” the Doctor pointed out.

“I did it; it worked,” she settled. Casey grunted in approval. She didn't quite know what to make of it. “We stopped them before; why would they try almost the exact same thing?”

“Maybe they thought the slight variation would make a difference?” Neal pointed out.

“Variation?” Rory brought up.

“Using a Ganger instead of the actual person to commit the crime.” He looked over to Chuck. “Could it be possible that getting him would activate a trigger? A sleeper of sorts?”

He thought about it and turned to Sarah. “The CIA has ways of breaking latent triggers in sleeper agents,” she comforted, “We'll figure all of them out.”

Everyone went silent as the trace completed. The Doctor moved over to checked it and yelled at the results. “It didn't finish! How could it not finish?” he raged, typing in commands.

Peter looked over to the spot where the Ganger had been. “Probably because your source is no longer usable,” he reported. The Ganger had dissolved, a gooed mess entangled with the nodes and wires on the floor.

“Oh, no, nononononono!” he shouted.

“It dissolved so you couldn't track it back,” Orion muttered, going over to the computer. He started going through the results it had gotten and initiated his own search. The Doctor came up behind him and watched as he tried to finish the search.

River took off the breaks and steered the TARDIS when they landed in the place where the woman had held Amy. Sarah and Casey were the first ones out, sweeping around for people. They motioned for others when they didn't see anyone in the immediate vicinity.

Chuck came out with Orion. Neal followed carefully with Peter and Amy. River held a gun that Casey was going to have to ask about later. Rory took a few minutes, changed into a strange costume that grabbed Sarah's attention when it clanged a tiny bit. The Doctor locked the TARDIS and joined them momentarily. “How do we split?” Peter asked.

Chuck and Sarah immediately joined together. Casey nodded at the obvious choice and Orion joined him. River and Rory joined Chuck and Sarah, along with Neal. Peter, Amy and the Doctor moved toward the second group. Comms were past out and placed in all ears. “Neal,” he warned. The man held up his hands to stop any other arguments. Adjusting so they were all on the same frequency, they split up.

The electricity barely kept the lights high enough for everyone to walk around, but they couldn't see much else. Flashlights that were brought by the spies and the sonic screwdriver became extra light sources. Orion and Casey were in the lead of their group, hacker and picks at the ready for the first man and gun constantly ready for the second. Peter took the back, leaving Amy and the Doctor in the middle. Well, as much of the middle as one could be when the Doctor wouldn't stop investigating everything.

They came across the former area where they kept Amy first. She faltered, but continued, passing her hands over the former container that held her. Orion spotted a computer and hooked up the netbook to start hacking into the system. After a few minutes, Casey asked, “Anything?”

“Nothing. This hub doesn't have any important information and it isn't connected enough to get to any main network. It was mainly used for monitoring purposes,” he informed, shutting it down, “If there were a central area, it would be beneficial to head there.”

“The others are probably heading that way. We should see if they have any areas that would have had possible versions of paper trails,” Peter mentioned.

“Storage areas,” she concluded, turning to the Doctor, “Do you remember a blueprint where we could find those?”

“No, but we can find one,” he told them, going over to the computer, “Let me have a crack at that. There may be more than it's letting on.”

Sarah and River were at the front, both types of guns out and ready to shoot. Neal, Rory and Chuck rotated, depending on if anyone saw anything or if one was investigating something. Chuck and Neal kept their dart guns pointed down. Rory held a small scabbard; Chuck wondered why he had a complete Roman look. He also thought he saw him somewhere before.

Most of the rooms were devoid of anything that could help them out. There were no computers, no maps, files. Scattered chairs and tables were numerous while they walked around and checked rooms. It took a few minutes to get to actually get to a room that had something else in it. “Someone's former office,” Rory commented, walking around the wall. Chuck found a computer like electronic and started powering it up so he could hack in.

River also walked along the walls, looking for panels or hidden spaces that something could be stored. Sarah watched for anyone walking by and Neal stood behind Chuck, watching him work. No one found anything for a few minutes. Then, River activated a panel that opened a hole in the floor. “Haven't we seen this before?” Chuck remarked, looking over the screen and seeing the effect.

“Some things never change,” Neal commented. “Kinda small for a room, though.”

Rory dropped down near the hole, claiming, “I'll check.” The hole didn't go down far, and he easily hit the bottom. He rummaged around for a few minutes before getting back up with a couple of scraps of paper. “Nothing much,” he said, handing them to River.

She quickly ran them over. “Someone's diary,” she murmured. After reading it for a few minutes, she discarded them. “Workplace romance. Nothing about Amy or the last time she was here.”

Chuck was working through a hard encryption when he got through a particular firewall. “I'm in somewhere,” he announced, running another program while going through the new information. “This is on Amy. Movements, plans. It's how they kidnapped her.”

“They probably have something like that for Bryce,” Neal concluded, “Was this place still being used just after you rescued Amy?”

“For a short while,” River informed, “They had it declared unsecured and started moving things to another unknown location, but they might have began the preparations to replace Bryce here. There might be early ponderings or other clues.”

Chuck nodded and went further into the computer to try and get more information. Nothing else came up, even when he broke through everything. “Whatever they planned, it wasn't saved here.”

“Another room?” Sarah inquired, turning around a fraction of an inch to see everyone.

“There was a large security room of sorts last time,” Rory suggested, “Maybe that's where all of the information is.”

“Then we should find it,” Sarah decided, “River, let's clear the hallway.”

**0=0**

He couldn't see anything the first time he woke up. Everything was too bright. He was still tired from whatever had happened to him, and fell unconscious again. The second and third times weren't much better, the brightness still high. He did start hearing things around him. Most of it was mumbled and garbled.

He doesn't know if it's the sixth or seventh time that he was finally able to make out things. A couple of words on vital signs. _That would probably be about me._ Something about a mission, its failure. _What do we do with Larkin?_ Anyone who asked that question usually followed it up by moving away from him, so he couldn't get a hint over what would happen.

He finally tried moving and barely got a response out of his arms. He did however figure out he was bound somehow, and if his arms were bound, then most likely his legs were as well. He felt like he was in a repeat of the Fulcrum and Ring captivities, wires, tubes and needles in several areas. Once his strength started returning more, it would be harder to get out of wherever he was.

Where was he anyway?

The last thing he remembered was opening the door to Neal's apartment and seeing two others there. A woman, roughly around forty to fifty in physical age, and a man about fifteen to twenty years younger. It was the man that he blanked on, the last thing he saw. It wasn't anything close to an Intersect flash that wiped him out. And why would they strap him down in something like the transport carrier that Fulcrum once used.

He couldn't really tell how much time was passing, and his next few wakenings were briefer than before. Finally, he was able to get enough strength during one of the times and tried to pull his arms out of the restraints. Whatever it was, it wasn't simple Velcro or rope. It was soft against his wrist, probably to provide protection against struggling from the patient.

They were talking again. Something about the Doctor trying to find him. Someone saying it would be impossible for the man to do so. Another brought up a River and others that were joining him. He picked up Intersects. _Chuck and Neal. Which means Casey, Sarah and others. They're helping this guy, The Doctor, out._

He considered calling out when the people were nearby. Figure out reactions, see if he couldn't find a sympathetic person in the group. Instead, something above him slid open and he saw a woman with a scarred eye looking down at him. “He's awake. More anesthesia,” she ordered.

“We can't. His system's flooded with it,” someone argued, “He must be brought off the chemicals to get his body to a clean slate and ready for another Ganger.”

She sighed, frustrated, “Very well. Make sure he cannot escape.” She shut the viewing door. He became confused, and slightly worried. _Ganger? And who the hell was she? What's going on?_


	4. Chapter Four

After getting nothing from the little outpost, Casey led them down to another area, checking for patrol every corner. They kept scanning and entering rooms for possible computers and other objects that could tell them where anything was. Deeper into the building, they began finding more dust and rust. “I don't think anyone's been down here since this place was functioning,” Amy commented, kicking snack bags that must have been left behind by former workers.

“It would be the right place to store paper or hard copies,” Peter mentioned, “If they still do that.”

“Yeah, there are a few places,” the Doctor informed, “The Warehouse is infamous for it. And there was the Library.”

“Warehouse?” he asked.

“Library?” she inquired.

He paused, wondering if he should elaborate on the subjects and quickly deciding against it. “Not saying anything more on that,” he denied.

Casey came back from his exploration further ahead. “No computers, papers, boxes or anything that could contain anything. Cleaned out a while ago,” he reported.

“So, go back and pick a different path?” Orion suggested.

“We should see where the other group is,” Peter added, “Search a different area to cover more.”

Casey tapped his comm unit. “Bartowski, Walker.” Not getting anything, the others tried their units. “Damn it, communication's not working.”

“There's probably something in the walls cutting off foreign radio waves,” Orion brought up.

The Doctor perked up a tiny bit. “Amy, try your phone,” he said. She pulled out her decorated, TARDIS blue phone and sent a text over to Rory.

About two stories up and five rooms away, Rory was startled by the sounds of his phone, which he hurriedly shut off before reading the text. “It's Amy. Comms don't work. Where are you?” he translated. He sent a reply. “Office area.”

Amy jumped as her phone started ringing. “Office area,” she reported.

“There's probably closer to the security room,” the Doctor hypothesized.

“Personnel quarters then,” Orion suggested, “People take things back, no matter how hard they try to stop.”

“Let's figure out where those would be,” Casey led, walking back up.

Rory read the last message. “They're going to personnel quarters.”

“We get the security room,” River concluded.

It took about half an hour to find what would have been the living area. Peter first noticed the mess hall and found a surprising map of the complex on the wall. He traced the path that would take them to the rooms. Amy walked up behind him and motioned to the Doctor. “Good catch,” he said, grabbing everyone else's attention.

Amy took a photo and sent it to Rory. “I can't believe they still have this in the future,” she mentioned.

“Safety codes apparently exist,” Orion quipped.

“You think we would have grown out of the need for it,” Amy suggested.

“And risk lawsuit exposure?” Peter inquired.

The Doctor started walking away with Casey. “If you three are done blogging,” he insisted, pointing outside. They took it as a cue to leave.

The quarters were bland, large rooms have four beds in bunk formation for groups and a few have twin beds. It was easy for the group to just split and got through each separately. There were drawers opening and mattresses being flipped to check for hidden documents before moving on to the next one. Amy had a good laugh over a minute at a love letter that sounded worse than Rory's early attempts. Betting slips, gambling sheets, attempts at forging. It amazed Peter that the crimes were still poorly planned (and kinda surprised they were still going on on a somewhat large scale) in the somewhat future.

The Doctor was caught reading a diary, which Orion raised an eyebrow at when he walked by after investigating a mostly clean room. “Oh, don't at like you've never done this before,” he professed.

“I'm usually not as amused by the contents as you are,” he inferred. He moved ahead and came to the end of the hallway. Realizing there was no other rooms and he wasn't going to go upstairs without Casey along side to scour for left behinds, he walked back down. He almost bumped back into the Doctor, who was excited by something he found out. “What? Was there an affair between two people of different ranks?”

“What? No,” he frowned, sticking his tongue out at the idea, “I found someone who was transferred from her to another base. Apparently, it was to be the same type of setup, only with the addition of more Flesh, the biomatter that makes up Gangers.”

“Location?”

“None listed. This says even mentioning this was a violation and he really should destroy the pages. Somehow, I don't think he got to doing that,” he said.

“That's definitely a good thing for us,” he chipped in, “We can find out how much power this places uses, try to use it as a rough estimate. Possibly elevated to account for Ganger related items.”

“Oh, there might be a unique trace signature from here. And the TARDIS probably remembers the one from the last Ganger manufacturing. Look for places that have each,” he proposed.

“That would narrow it down to...”

“One. They would wait to restart, after the defeat, so they would calm down worries from their intended victim. They wouldn't have semi-started back plans.” He looked over to Casey, Amy and Peter, who had gathered around while they had been talking. “We should get going on that idea. Amy, tell Rory. Maybe they'll find a way to narrow down the search.”

River found the room first, checking for traps before waving Chuck in. “This was the security room last time,” she needlessly informed, going back outside the room. He brought out his laptop and started hacking his way into the network.

After a few minutes, he found plenty on Amy and that plan, but nothing on the plan related to Bryce. He tried finding hidden files, encrypted files. Nothing came up with the name or dates relating to his life. “I'm getting nothing,” he reported.

“Yeah, well, maybe Madame Kovarian didn't want to jinx herself,” Neal mentioned, “Either that or she didn't want the Doctor picking up on it when he first came her to get Amy out.”

“Paper records?”

“Or a computer that never linked to a network. Keeping it closed off would have allowed her to hide the second plan.”

“Great, so we have to figure out which office is hers,” he complained, almost taking off the computer before he backtracked, “What am I doing? I can go through the security footage here and find it.”

“Smart. Is there anyway to keep a connection to it so someone doesn't have to stay here and watch the cameras?” Neal asked.

“Maybe, I would have to see if there is anything blocking the ability.” He started going through the known cameras and found the other group. He brought them up on a monitor before going back to the search. He focused on three places they hadn't been. “Okay, based on size and niceness of the places, I would say these two are the best choices for her office.”

_Hopefully she had an office. She might have not needed one or she didn't want anyone to find anything and wouldn't have put anything down. Maybe she wasn't that paranoid to do that. Really hope she wasn't that paranoid to do that._ “Do you think they found where she was living?” he asked.

Rory, who had been in the back, said, “I could always text and see. If they haven't, we could ask them to go up and find it.” Neal nodded and he pulled out his phone. After a minute, he got a response. “No, but they're going to try and trace unique signals.”

“Well, while they're doing that, they could also check her quarters,” Chuck mentioned. Rory texted back the suggestion.

Amy read the last part, “Try and find the room she was living in. She may have left something behind.”

“Unlikely, given that she's a meticulous planner and would have triple checked her room for anything that may have clued someone in to the next location,” the Doctor doubted.

“The best have been taken down by something simple,” Peter argued, “Speeding tickets, tax fraud. I got Neal because he was deeply in love with a woman named Kate.”

“She might have left blank pieces of paper behind that have indentations,” Amy thought up.

Cornered, he agreed, “All right.”

“Casey, we're going to find the main woman's living quarters,” Orion shouted. Both Casey and Peter went first, the other three trailing behind.

Sarah and River went ahead to scout. It took them a few times before finding a couple of offices that had extra locks on the front. Use of the hacker revealed two of the top offices in the complex. Chuck started going through the computer while Neal and Rory searched around for hidden compartments. Sarah got into the other room and River was on the computer while she went through the room. 

Neither found anything until Neal found a secret compartment in the wall just behind the desk. Once he raided it and found a single piece of paper, Chuck got through the firewalls and found a few things that looked promising. “I have information on other complexes with blueprints and structures,” he reported.

The paper was blank, but maneuvering it to see the imprint of the last thing wrote down allowed him to see the words. “I have a clue. Looks like it's coded,” he added.

“Not surprising. Some habits never die,” Rory quipped, “Do you recognize the code?”

“I can't see all of it at once. I need to copy it somewhere and then figure out.”

Chuck focused on the computer even more and finished getting though the last firewall. He searched through the files that he uncovered first before finding several possible clues. It was only when he started finding Ganger and Bryce mentioned repeatedly that he called attention. “I have her plan. She abducted Bryce just after Stanford and switched him during a few days of rest that the CIA had him take,” he mentioned, before reading off, “Took subject to new complex. One chemical in the blood that needs to be metabolized before Flesh can be used.”

“And this new complex?”

“No clue yet. I'm going to find files based just after the last time they did something like this. When approximately did that happen?” he asked Rory.

“I have no clue. The way of telling dates have completely changed.”

Neal put in, “We have the drive copiers. Maybe the Doctor or River could help decrypt them.” Chuck nodded and hooked up the device before activating and watching the progress. It took several minutes for the entire section he had selection to be copied.

Sarah had walked in with River after their fruitless search. “Do you have anything?”

“Possibly, but we need translations on dates to look for files that could possibly tell where she is.”

“We can handle that on the go,” Sarah said.

Rory's phone went off just as they were closing down. “Found nothing. Place was spotless,” he read.

“Let's get back to the TARDIS,” River directed, “The Doctor and Orion may have figured out the unique signatures that we can use. Everything that we have can be useful in narrowing down the search.”

**0=0**

Bryce didn't feel himself getting stronger, but he did stay more awake longer as whatever they used to keep him filtered out of his system. He started to note everything that he needed to know about the facility he was in and how to get out. 

The capsule looked roughly the same as the pod Fulcrum used to transport him to Burbank. He became better at figuring out where the wires were, feeling them along his head and chest, and knew that removing them would activate an alarm. He would have to be fast and smart on escaping. There were also tubes going into _places_ that would be 'fun' to remove.

Getting off the bindings was his first obstacle, and he worked several angles. He couldn't bend enough to reach the clasps. There was nothing spare or coming off that he could use to lever into them either. Sheer strength, not that he had much, couldn't break them. He thought about dislocating his thumb, but he wasn't sure even that would work, and if it didn't, the thumb wouldn't be reset and it would heal wrong.

“ _He's_ coming?” a scared, high-pitched voice inquired. They had to be close in order for him to hear that clearly. It was strange, since everyone knew he woke up and they avoided him when talking about sensitive information. Maybe they thought he was asleep.

“The old complex was still running on partial power, and it sent out an intruder warning,” another serious and slightly scared voice answered, “She linked to the security footage and saw him walking around. River Song and the Ponds were there as well, along with a few others no one knew about.”

_A few others that they don't know about. Chuck and Sarah. Neal._ “Why? Are they trying to find the subject?”

“What other reason would there be?”

“Why do they want him?”

“I think it has to do with the look-a-like that was also in the footage. I've heard they're twins. Possibly his and hers,” the second voice hissed.

“Oh no. We were told it was just someone that could get to the Doctor unnoticed. I thought a member of UNIT or military. We've possibly kidnapped....”

“I would suggest,” another voice interrupted, “That you two stop speculating and get back to work.” The boss had decided to visit. The window slid open, revealing her face. The scarring hadn't gotten better.

“Your subordinates are afraid of this guy,” he tried taunting, “And it's sounds like you're fucked because he's close to finding you again.”

“I'm not worried; you're almost chemically clean. Then, we will make more Gangers and they won't be able to tell until it's too late.”

“You don't think they wouldn't be suspicious,” he mocked, “What is this? The fourth time you've tried killing him with a 'Ganger' related plan.” With no witty comeback, the window was shut. _Okay, guys, whenever you feel like pulling off that epic rescue._

**0=0**

The Doctor and their group had gotten back first. Orion and him were already working on a program to narrow down the search via unique traces. River was passed the copied hard drive after Chuck worked on a decryption program so she could search for any mention of the new complex. Neal worked on getting the code onto something readable, with Peter looking over his shoulder so he could watch.

The program seemed to ping at the exact same time River found something useful in the logs. “There are four traces of areas that match this complex,” the Doctor reported.

“And those four all match up to energy levels that this place would have had at full operation,” Orion added.

“Nothing that would indicate they're using more energy.”

“Which they should be if they're working with more biomatter.”

“So, they're hiding better or we're not calculating something in.”

“Hiding better,” River chimed in. “I have an entry log from the computer they copied. They've employed techniques and other ways of covering up their energy usage better.”

“Anything specific?” the Doctor inquired.

“Give me a minute, I'm not through everything yet.”

Neal was switching letters when Peter pointed out something in one of the words. “Deja vu,” he muttered, trying what Peter suggested.

“Why?” Sarah asked, listening in.

“Shift code hidden in an anagram. We had someone use it before,” Peter informed. The phrase became understandable, and they passed it on to Chuck and River, who ran a search through the files.

The four destinations were galaxies apart. The Doctor wanted to hit each one until they got to the right one. Orion disagreed and Casey sided with him. If they were to just randomly hit places, one might set off a trigger and Kovarian would just pack up and leave, with Bryce. It had to be the right one.

River chimed in at the perfect time. “I have it,” she announced, “Project name is Second Generation Beta. They are in the closest galaxy next to the Medusa Cascade.”

The Doctor started at the revelation of where they were. “What?!”

Orion immediately searched it out and found the complex that matched. “It actually reads just below what we were expecting them to read at; it was discounted in the search,” he explained.

“Let's get all the information we can,” Sarah led, “Is there any way we can find blueprints and anything else without having to be on site?”

The Doctor had to be lightly hit before he could answer. “Right, there are a few places that blueprints have to be registered and usually, getting into those systems are easy,” he commented, pulling up the sections. Orion started working fast.

“Could this library possibly have the information?” Peter asked.

“No! No, not going to the Library,” he insisted, everyone staring at his outburst. “It wouldn't be there anyway.”

“All right,” he backtracked.

“Is there sort of an underground, black market type of thing that we could get information from?” Chuck brought up.

“I know someone, but they're kinda angry with me at the moment,” he mentioned.

“Angry with you,” River pointed out, “But they're not angry with me.”

“So you can get the information,” Sarah pointed out, “With the information, we should come up with a plan.”

“Then let's move before they're prepare for us,” Casey finalized.


	5. Chapter Five

Aaron turned to his buddy. “I don't get what the problem is. Aren't the two of you staying together?” he questioned, sweeping the next hall before stepping forward.

“Yeah, but he's talking about merging our stuff, not just adding to it,” Patrick complained, checking the rooms on the left side while Aaron looked around the right. “I know we don't have enough room for both our items, but I don't want to get rid of my stuff and he doesn't want to get rid of his stuff. He thinks it's because I don't want to commit, but it's actually because I want backups in case something happens.”

“Understandable,” he agreed, checking on a door that looked loose. It was locked, and he moved on.

“Thank you.” He checked down the hall and detected no movement. He moved down and barely glanced at the first door. He heard the thump of a body behind him, and didn't get the chance to turn to check on him before something knocked him unconscious.

Casey started stripping down his target and putting on the clothes. He stuffed the guard with his friend after Chuck stripped his. After making sure neither could contact and alert security, they moved forward.

Peter and Sarah came up through another way, also in 'borrowed' guard clothes. River was the last ones to join. “Amy, Rory and Neal?” Peter asked.

“Ready to created the distraction,” Chuck answered.

“We should be closer to the room so we can move in quicker and get out,” Sarah mentioned. They kept quiet, passing smaller groups who simply nodded at them in greeting. After a few minutes and three levels, she said, “We're about four hallways away.”

“Distraction time,” River announced, texting Rory.

Said man took out the cell phone and read received text. “Distraction time,” he reported. Amy grinned and lit the fuses before running with him. The fireworks were loud and bright, perfect for grabbing the guards' attention. Their next stop was the cafeteria, where they let off another set of fireworks before moving to the third area.

Rory pulled out a glass container that held the beginnings of a smoke bomb. The remaining ingredient had to be added for the chemical reaction to occur. They unscrewed what seemed to be an air vent and placed it inside before dropping in a powder and securing the plate while smoke started coming out. They carefully rushed down to what had been designated as a safe area. The smoke started working through the connected airways, filling up quarters and offices. 

Neal was last, hooking into a computer network and began playing around. Alarms were changed around, indicating rough weather instead of smoke and intruders. He found the section where Bryce would be and disabled everything within, blaming it on faulty wiring and a power surge. After, he disabled everything and chose a couple of songs to begin if certain actions were taken. The language was also changed to an alien dialect that took up the majority of the page, making it harder to read and get to important sections. 

It took a few minutes, but an alarm finally went through the complex. Several people started rushing out, and specific soldiers guided people out to safety due to the alarm being for a wind storm, which meant people needed to get away from certain areas. Neal joined Amy and Rory just as a couple of guards rushed by. They had covered their heads and walked quickly to avoid being noticed.

The other group looked up when alarms sounded. “That's our cue,” Peter said, moving forward with Casey and Sarah. The first door had to be broken into with an electronic lock pick. River took care of that quickly before they opened. Chuck and Sarah took care of the inner door, breaking the locks before they would open.

Casey had his weapon pointed at the only person left, an attendant that was meant to watch over vital signs and make sure the occupant didn't die in the pod. Chuck felt his mouth go dry as he saw it. _Wow, things really don't change._ Sarah gazed at it grimly, old memories sprouting up. They worked on disabling the barriers before opening.

Bryce could only look up. “What took you guys so long?” he joked, voice cracking. Chuck and Peter took positions in stripping off the electrodes and tubes before being able to lift him out.

“Hey, Bryce, you know those movies where they get the girl back and the hero kisses her for a minute before letting her go to defeat the bad guy for good,” Chuck rambled, holding him.

“Yeah?”

“All right, I'm going to do that,” he warned. He dipped his head and sealed his lips over his. Bryce was stunned for a minute before reacting. Both of their lips were chapped and Bryce's mouth was dry from no water in days, but they were both warm.

“Bartowski,” Casey growled.

They separated, and Bryce began getting thoughts. “You're with Sarah,” he mumbled.

Mentioned woman spoke, “We'll talk about it once we get out of here.” Chuck nodded and stayed by him while Sarah replaced Peter. They walked in the middle of the group as they tried their best to hurry out. Casey destroyed the communications before closing off the room, leaving the assistant without any way of getting help or out.

The halls were a ghost town, which made getting back to the meeting area easy. Amy was waiting outside the TARDIS and alerted Rory and Neal. Rory checked over Bryce and led them down to a medical bay. “Just place him down,” he said, “Hello, I'm Rory.”

“Hello, Rory,” Bryce bounced back. He grabbed a gadget that looked like a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it snugly around his upper arm and turned on a monitor. It took a few minutes for the readings to start showing up. When it slowed down, he noticed the man had fallen asleep.

“There's nothing wrong with him, physically. Nutrients, vitamins, glucose, all within healthy levels. They kept him sedated and kept in a small area. No matter how hard they tried, he has a little atrophy. It may take a few weeks to get him back to a level of normal abilities.” He took it back off and turned off the machine.

“That's good,” Sarah acknowledged.

“Do you think he still has...” Chuck asked, before stopping himself and pointing at his watch.

“We'll have to check later.”

“Well, there's no reason for us to stay,” Peter interrupted, “We'll get out of your way.” He pushed everyone that wasn't Chuck and Sarah out.

She turned to him. “I thought we were going to talk about that first,” she hissed.

“Sorry, I just...” he babbled, “We got him back once and didn't do anything and now we have him back and I didn't want to let the opportunity slip away just in case we have to send him off to...” She kissed him to stop his rambling. He returned it for a minute before breaking it. “We should wait for him to wake up so we can explain everything.”

She nodded, “Good idea.”

**0=0**

Everything was in chaos. Kovarian watched her subordinates rush around. The light shows and smoke were riling people up. “You,” she directed, pointing to a woman, “Over to the explosion areas. Find out what's causing it and make sure there is no damage. You.” She pointed to a man, “Find out the origin of smoke and stop it.”

“Ma'am, something's wrong with the computer system,” another woman reported.

“What sections?” she demanded.

“All of them, someone's been in the system and completely changed things around.”

“What can you do from here?”

She typed for a few seconds, the alien language Neal chose making it hard to read. “Unsure ma'am. I believe I'm locked out at this end.”

There was a deep troubled stirring in her stomach. “Take someone with you. Get this resolved,” she ordered. The last of her support staff left and she saw down. She set up the monitor she had taken to see the two problem areas. The light show had been caused by twenty-fifth century fireworks, mostly show with a little flame. The area was slightly singed but there was no damage. The smoke was still spreading through the vents, but there was an abnormally high amount out of a section of rooms. A team was sweeping them and getting close to the source.

“Why?”

Kovarian did not startle; she shot up when she heard the Doctor's voice. She reached for her gun before he pulled out his screwdriver and disabled it. 

“Why? Why do you insist on trying this?” he questioned, “You failed before, you failed now.”

“You should not be alive,” she stated.

“Why? Why should I not be alive? Me being alive is good for you.”

“Is it?” she inquired, “The planets you've destroyed, the people you've corrupted. Everything you have done to screw with time lines. Do you know what you have done to entire civilzations? Societies?”

“Do you remember what happened when I disappeared?” He watched her. They had taken Melody; they had taken Bryce. All they saw was the dangerous side of him. His vengeful side, the reasons why he had been called The Oncoming Storm. “Of course you don't, that's the point. Amy remembers, she remembers because she had the crack in her wall, time bleeding into her brain. The girl that remembered. I was locked in the Pandorica, did you know that? Was that your first attempt at stopping me, thinking that I could just be locked away? The entire universe collapsed. For the short amount of time I was locked away, the universe ceased to exist. I fixed it, not your Church or any of your people. Me. I'm locked my own planet to stop the Time Lords from destroying the universe. I have stopped the destruction of the universe so many times. Do you not get that! I'm the one making sure everyone else lives. And this is what I get! Destroying their lives because you're afraid of me? Because you think due to some grand God the universe isn't meant to be any more and I'm destroying the plan. Maybe you should think about what shouldn't be around any more.”

The Doctor walked out and she collapsed in the chair next to her. She didn't pay attention when the staff started filtering back. “Ma'am?” one asked, daring to get close.

“Ma'am, subject B was removed from his containment,” another reported.

_Damn it._ “I need to contact the Church,” she prompted, grabbing a secure line and walking out of the room.

The Doctor watched the people run around as he made his way back to the TARDIS. _These humans, fed stories of my darkest days. Oh how history repeats in the most damaging of ways._ There was no one in the room where he had parked. It wasn't surprising that they hadn't checked around for intruders in the complex. 

Amy and Rory were talking to Neal when he walked in. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” she stated, moving to him.

“Grandkids?” Rory questioned.

“Ah, well,” he stuttered.

“When did you find the time?” Amy asked.

“Amy!” Rory turned to his wife.

“What? It's a reasonable question,” she defended.

Peter and Neal were watching with interest. When he started trying to explain things, the older man felt the need to step in. “Why don't we wait for Bryce, Chuck and Sarah?” he interrupted, “It would be better just to have everyone learning this at once.”

“Brilliant idea, Agent Burke,” he said, fully relieved. “In fact, let's go back to the apartment.” He made it to the console and started placing in coordinates.

“Apartment?” Rory questioned, thinking that it didn't sound big enough. The American version of apartments brought up ideas of small spaces with a foldout bed.

“It's actually quite spacious,” Neal reassured, “More of a loft.” Amy joined in on the questioning stare. “Right, different meaning.”

“No worries,” the Doctor repeated.

-

June looked up from her morning paper when she heard the strange grinding that she remembered a couple of nights ago. “They're back,” she smiled.

Neal walked out and checked around. Peter quickly followed and was bombarded with phone messages that he had to answer. Orion and Casey moved out and into the mansion. Chuck and Sarah supported Bryce between them and moved him to the couch. Amy, Rory and River all grabbed chairs from the outside and brought them in for themselves.

June sent up food that her cook had prepared. Neal had them lay it on the table before finding enough plates so everyone could eat. Once everyone had something, the Doctor forgoing the plate to scavenge.

“All right,” Amy pushed, “Start talking, Doctor. I want to know how I got grandkids.”

He had been eating a piece of toast and started choking when he tried talking at the same time. “I should be the one talking,” River decreed, bringing attention to herself.

“We had just gotten back from seeing the five hundredth celebration of the settling of Lipnonis. We were in the mood and had sex before he dropped me off. I started experiencing morning sickness two months in and he came and kept me on the TARDIS during the pregnancy. Around six months, we started being followed. I was close to term and he dropped me off in Aridale.”

“You couldn't have kept us?” Neal asked.

“We didn't want you to be found by our enemies,” she reminded, “And they would have searched everyone we ever knew to find you. None of his former companions, not Amy and Rory. You wouldn't have been safe.”

“Somehow they found us,” Bryce commented, playing with the last of his food.

“When you became a CIA operative, your name would have been kept on record. They figured it out after checking the DNA they took to compare later on.”

“Their DNA?” Peter mentioned, “We would have taken Neal's as well. How come they didn't try for him?”

“It might have been scrubbed from the system,” the Doctor suggested.

Peter raised an eyebrow in Neal's direction. _Was it Mozzie?_

He shrugged. _I know nothing._

“The CIA would have kept their own records due to his asset status,” Sarah brought up.

Peter nodded. _Mozzie._

“Can't we just take it out of the system so they can't use it in the future?” Orion inquired.

“Knowing the Church, they already have someone here, who's been watching for appearance of the twins. Simply wiping out their DNA records wouldn't work,” River supplied, “Switching their DNA profiles with someone might, but suspicions may arise.”

“You would have to find another set of identical male twins so it would work,” Casey concluded.

“Could you search for some that we can switch with?” Neal asked.

"Possibly.”

“Except it's already happened, so we don't find anyone,” Chuck pointed out.

“Time is not linear. It's a big ball of wibbly wobbly....” the Doctor argued.

River stopped him before he went on a rant, “They reported Bryce in 2002; they might have stopped watching, so we can switch their DNA profiles for another set of twins so someone else wouldn't be able to report their relations to us in the future."

"And that'll stop them from trying this again?" Orion questioned, "Wouldn't they notice something wrong?"

"They may see that something went wrong in the first place and discredit the person that made the connection, or they could recheck, but we'll know and be able to intercept," the Doctor elaborated.

Plates started being emptied, so those that had enough placed theirs in the sink. "Okay, so, what is the story of everyone?" Chuck inquired, "How did everyone meet?"

"He crashed into my garden," Amy started.

"Oi, I was in the middle of a regeneration," he argued. Bryce and Neal looked at each other before turning back to them. “And the TARDIS was on fire; it wasn't her fault.”


	6. Epilogue

Everything that had been discovered and talked about still hung around in the thoughts of Peter and Neal. However, it was time to get back to their work. Peter pulled up to June's on Tuesday. "Hey," he greeted, sliding in carefully with a thermos of coffee.

"Hey," Peter threw back, "Long night?"

"Talking to Bryce. He, Chuck and Sarah have decided to try entering a poly relationship."

"That's why Chuck kissed Bryce," he nodded, before handing him a file. "I thought a refresh on where we're going would be a good idea."

"The Exploding Box," he said, "Blaiddrwg Gallery." He took a closer picture of the photograph and thought the box looked like the TARDIS. _They did say they met Van Gogh before. But I thought the painting ended up in the Royal Gallery._ He then rolled his eyes at what the Doctor might have said about his leap. _Time's not set; maybe it hasn't happen yet._

__They pulled up to the gallery just around nine. The director met them outside and walked them into the office. Another man was waiting within the room, and in front of them was the Exploding Box. “This is Mister Williams; he explained he would like to loan out the painting for our collection,” the director told them._ _

__“Anthony Williams, pleasure,” he expanded, shaking each of their hands, “My parents got the painting from an old family friend. She had it over several years in her family. My mother said the story was Van Gogh saw something, a vision, and that it was about this box being destroyed by a Wrong of the universe.”_ _

__Neal turned to Peter. That sounded like one of the stories Amy and the Doctor had described to them. “His last name is Williams, like Rory,” Peter muttered._ _

__“Relative?” Neal whispered back, “Amy can’t have any more kids.”_ _

__“Let’s find out,” he suggested, “Neal, check out the painting.” He nodded and grabbed a couple of gloves that the director held out before carefully picking up the painting. Peter walked over to Anthony. “The story you were telling is like one we just heard from someone else. Do you mind telling me all that you remember about it?” he inquired._ _

__“Of course,” he granted. He started the story with the crack in the wall, and the Doctor crashing in the garden of Amy's house. He followed the time line all the way to the Pandorica and stopped, since that was the end of the story for the painting. It matched the other group's story, except he kept saying Mom and Dad in place of Amy and Rory. _Could they have had another child? I thought they couldn't. And when did they?__ _

__Neal listened, but his focus was on the painting. The canvas was right, not artificially aged. The oils were cracked; it wasn't caused from fast oven drying but actual age. He analyzed the signature and didn't see any obvious trace patterns, hesitation marks or abnormalities that showed in normal forgeries. As far as he could see, there wasn't a second signature hidden in the painting either. It didn't rule out ultraviolet inks, but he doubted it. “Well, I can't find anything that immediately declares it a forgery,” he reported, “But there were forgers before me. It could be an early attempt; the Exploding Box was rarely seen and would have been a good practice run for someone starting out.”_ _

__The director nodded her head, still pleased with the results, “Thank you. This will be a wondrous addition to the gallery. A Van Gogh will help highlight and bring attention to the other artists we've selected.”_ _

__“Van Gogh,” both Anthony and Neal corrected._ _

__She dipped her head. “Sorry,” she apologized._ _

__Peter separated from Anthony. “If you're satisfied, we need to get to the office,” he tried finishing._ _

__Neal looked over to her. “Do you have anything else you need authenticated?” he asked, smile lighting up in hopes of keeping paperwork at bay. Peter just tugged him outside and over to the car. He looked up at the gallery name before getting in the passenger seat. “Blaiddrwg.”_ _

__“Yes, Neal,” he said._ _

__“No, it's just...” he paused, trying to figure it out._ _

___Separate them._ _ _

__Okay, that wasn't his thought. Freaked out a little, he took the advice and separated the word. _Blaidd rwg? Blaid drwg? Blaidd Drwg?_ The small link to the TARDIS translated the last word into Bad Wolf. “Peter, promise me you won't freak out,” he motioned._ _

__“About what?”_ _

__“The name of the gallery translates to Bad Wolf.”_ _

__He didn't turn, but became curious. “Like Malum Lupus when Phil came to visit? Do you think it's something?”_ _

__“Maybe we should ask the Doctor.”_ _

__He nodded, “You're the one with his number.” Neal pulled out his cell phone but didn't call just yet. He wasn't sure whether it was something to be afraid of, and he didn't want to alert the Doctor to something that wasn't really worrying. Instead, he sent off a text to Bryce to ask him if he ever saw Bad Wolf in any reports or other places._ _

__**0=0** _ _

__Bryce watched Chuck and Sarah argue over something. He was staying with them while he got back to a well enough fighting condition. He was trying to watch Star Trek, catching up on the new movie when Chuck sat down beside him, Sarah on his other side. “Have you two made up?” he quipped._ _

__“We had nothing to make up about,” Sarah defended._ _

__“We were wondering,” Chuck flailed, trying to come up with the correct word. “How to approach you with an idea.”_ _

__He looked over at Sarah. “You've been in love with Chuck since college,” she stated, “And you fell in with me during our time together.”_ _

__“And Sarah and I love each other,” he added, “We don't want to see you alone.”_ _

__Sarah smirked, “And we don't want to share you.”_ _

__He blinked, really thinking about what they were offering. “The three of us together?” he inquired._ _

__“If you agree,” Chuck said._ _

__He smiled, “Why wouldn't I? It's perfect.”_ _

__**0=0** _ _

__They had all been separate._ _

__Then Neal and Bryce met. And were happy as two grown brothers could be, until she realized Bryce wasn't really there. So she visited River in her dreams, guiding her to meet their children. She brought along the Doctor._ _

__Her and the TARDIS talked, and she stopped for Amy and Rory before retrieving their grandson. Now they were all together as they could be, knowing that each other existed. And Neal was surely going to pass on the information that he and Bryce had an uncle of sorts. Hopefully, they found out about Amy's parents and aunt along with Rory's father. If they didn't, she would just have to arrange it._ _

__She is the Bad Wolf, and if she couldn't have him, then she could help her Doctor have someone._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations, you got to the end.
> 
> One note, I referenced Warehouse 13 when the Doctor was talking about places still using paper. I'm still a nerd.


End file.
